This photo was taken by me during my one and only experience of formation flying during a fascinating visit to Chino. Before the flight I sat in on a meeting of the Squadron where the pilot of the white Stearman gave a short lecture on formation flying which included many of the important points raised in this thread. Having stressed the importance of briefing, the pilot of the blue and yellow aircraft was invited to join us just before we took off. There did not appear to be any briefing but I am sure that these guys were very used to flying with each other and it all went very well. After splitting up over a nearby lake we all did our own thing for a while, mostly aerobatics and, after I was given control, some low flying tail chases. Eventually I was told to catch up the other two who had already set out for home. I was told to join up on the right of the pair. Expecting my pilot to take over before I got too close, to my amazement he allowed me to tuck in really close and left me in control until we did a running break to land. It was one of the most amazing flying experiences of my life and still makes me smile.